


Brave New Journey

by Daegaer



Category: Saiyuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space Opera, Gen, Genetic Engineering, Genetics, Hospitalization, Hybrids, Injury Recovery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27726032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: While looking for work on an out of the way planet, Sanzo and his crew of genetically-modified spacers run into trouble.
Relationships: Cho Hakkai/Sha Gojyo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	1. Floating

Sanzo floated in the utter blackness of space, his mind totally quiet, eyes unfocused, only the faint starlight highlighting his suited hands as he slowly turned at the end of the safety line, like a leaf floating in a still and silent pool -

_shhhhhkkkk –nzo? Sanzo? You still out there? Stop playing with yourself and check in, would ya?_

Slowly, calmly, as if coming back from a long journey, Sanzo raised a hand and flicked the switch on his array back to _On_.

"Fuck off."

The sound of laughter came over the open channel.

_He's alive all right. Reel him back in, Goku. Hey, Sanzo, back to reality, meditation's over for today._

Gracefully, elegantly, Sanzo spun in the vastness of infinity, and gave the ship the finger.


	2. New World

Goku walked down the road that led from the spaceport, taking deep breaths of the warm, humid air. Behind them lay acres of steel and the same boring things that could be found anywhere. In the distance was a hazy line of dark green trees, tall and mysterious; about a kilometer away stood the local town, low built and sprawling. The breeze smelled of rain and plants, and new types of food and -

"Look at the monkey, jonesing to get back to the jungle!"

"Don't _call_ me that," Goku said, spinning round.

Gojyo shrugged, a wide and taunting smile on his lips.

"Hey, kid, I just call it like I see it. Are you ashamed of your genetic make-up or something?"

"I'm not," Goku said, his pleasure in the new planet gone, "a _monkey_."

"I guess," Gojyo said slowly. "I mean, uplift is uplift, right?" He laughed with evil glee, scuttling aside with ease as Goku rushed him.

"At least I'm not some _insect_."

"Enough!" Sanzo yelled. "I didn't come here to listen to your garbage."

"Yeah, yeah," Gojyo said, holding Goku off with a long, thin arm. "Whatever you say, Mr One Hundred Per Cent Human Genome."

"Deal with them," Sanzo said, and strode off down the road.

"Really, Gojyo," Hakkai said mildly. "Anyone would think you were insecure."

Goku grinned as Gojyo spluttered in outrage. Hakkai just smiled gently at them both until they calmed down and gestured after Sanzo.

"Shall we? He has the money."

Gojyo lit a cigarette and walked off as if nothing else had ever been on his mind. Hakkai smiled a little more widely at Goku. 

"This does seem to be a rather interesting place, doesn't it?"

"I'm not interested in swinging through the trees," Goku said.

"Dear me, no," Hakkai said, with the delicate thread of malice that came out when he _really_ wanted a cup of tea. "Think of how many of Gojyo's relatives we might find lurking." 

Goku laughed and ran down the road to catch up with Sanzo.


	3. Itsy-Bitsy Cockroach

The hostel was rustic, Hakkai said. Cheap, Sanzo said. Had a really great selection of local snacks, Goku said. A no-star, penny-pinching, typical dive chosen by their cheap-ass employer, in Gojyo's opinion. At least it had clean sheets on the soft, wide bed and a functioning lock on the door. He flung himself down and quickly got up again. Dammit, he _stank_. Space travel did that to a guy; you holed up in a ship with other stinky guys – and Hakkai – long enough, you sort of forgot how bad everyone smelled until you could compare yourself to a freshly-laundered pillowcase. Hakkai would definitely get himself another room if he had to smell Gojyo right then. He dug around in his bag until he found his hygiene kit and hauled ass off to the shower block.

Some day, he thought as he soaped up, Sanzo would pay for a proper hotel. One with en-suite bathrooms and not in the _charming, local_ (read, _bargain-priced_ ) part of town. One with the signs in galactic standard, and where the goddam _jungle_ wasn't creeping towards your door. He had finished his shower and was peering at his reflection for signs of breakouts caused by too much in-flight snacking when a janitor came in, with cans of insect repellent and an industrial sized fly swatter.

"Hey," he said, giving Gojyo an up-and-down look that said he considered it a perk of the job to find bathers wearing only one of the hostel's too-small towels wrapped tightly around their hips in a way that left little to the imagination. "One of the other guests said they saw a massive bug in here."

"Yeah?" Gojyo said in irritation. "All yours, man." He swept his hair, antennae included, up into another towel on top of his head and stalked off.

Hakkai, once enlisted for the purpose of sympathetic bitching over dinner in a nearby restaurant, was not sympathetic. Gojyo didn't know why he bothered, sometimes.

"He called me a giant bug, Hakkai! He sent a guy after me with cans of Raid!"

"Tsk. You don't know it was Goku, and even though it almost certainly was, you _did_ call him an uplifted monkey. He's sensitive, Gojyo."

"He's also a fucking uplifted monkey," Gojyo grumbled, grabbing a beer from the six-pack they'd ordered before Hakkai finished them all. "He should be like, _Monkey rights!_ or something."

"His _ancestors_ , Gojyo, who knows how far back. And clearly more recent generations have been cleared for intermarriage with full-humans. Leave him alone. Are you going to eat that last portion of firecracker beef? - thank you."

"Who knows how far back? I bet you do! You _love_ snuffling out bits of trivia about everything and everyone. When you're in the archives you're as happy as a pig in –" Gojyo looked at Hakkai's expression and cleared his throat. "Came out wrong. I just mean you're good at that sort of thing. And I don't want him calling me a bug."

"Ah," Hakkai said in the tone that meant the blade was going in _somewhere_ , watch your back. And sides. And front. "Of course. Because you're better than him, as you have a full-human parent." He smiled, so politely it almost looked like he meant it. "What a pity your father ran off with her, broke up his licensed marriage and created an unlicensed hybrid child. There are names for such beings, Gojyo – perhaps _bug_ is preferable?"

"Wow," Gojyo said. "That has to be the meanest thing you've said to me. Give me the goddam beef back."

"Dear me. Really? One does mellow over time. Don't worry, it'll blow over."

"Oh yeah?"

"Definitely. Sanzo will say something much worse, and all three of us will band together in outrage against him. And you and I will apologise to each other for rudeness and speciesism. And," Hakkai said, his face entirely serious, "You'll remember just how good I am in bed."

Gojyo rolled his eyes and shoved the remnants of their dinner back across the table. "Dunno why I put up with you."

"You love me deeply."

"You are _such_ a bastard."

"It's what you love. Buy me dessert."

Gojyo picked up the menu and read down it, looking for something good. "Next time I wanna bitch, just let me bitch, OK? How about – some local fruit pie with ice cream? . . . and maybe this cheesecake thing? Fuck it, Hakkai, how d'you stay so thin?"

Hakkai smiled, and took his hand.

"Good genes. I'll get Goku to lay off, don't worry."

Gojyo summoned the waiter, feeling the evening was already going better.


	4. Pigging Out

Hakkai lay back on the pillows, his data pad propped on his chest. Perhaps a _legitimate_ job this time. It mightn't have the excitement that Sanzo seemed to crave, but a payday was a payday. He scrolled through the listings, pausing to open a chocolate bar. Hmm. This was definitely sub-par chocolate. Oh, well. 

As usual, passenger queries were the most lucrative. As usual, Hakkai reluctantly ignored them. Sanzo always vetoed them. So silly. He reached out, opened a fruit-filled candy bar without looking. Yes, better than the chocolate.

A mail contract! That half-ironic prayer to St Jude to save their finances seemed to have worked. If they could just secure this; half the spacers in port would want it. He stuffed a half-pack of toffees into his mouth to help him concentrate and started running estimates for the lowest price they could offer to still make enough to pay their bills. He shot their offer off and kept looking for other possibilities.

By the time he was finished he was surrounded by candy wrappers. Oh dear. He shouldn't let Gojyo see those. And he should get to back to regular gym visits.

No need to become an over-stuffed sausage.


	5. Job Interview

Scrubbed and as neat as they got, they showed their faces in the slightly more respectable part of town. You could tell it was the respectable part, Gojyo thought, because the plant life didn't encroach quite so close to the buildings. Their would-be employer had offices on the first floor of a new building. _Isimwa and Sisters_ , the sign read in the local language and Galactic Standard. Huh. Perhaps they really had done business off-world before this.

The Isimwa of the sign turned out to be a thin, medium height, medium-dark complexioned local man of almost certainly a hundred per cent human genome. Not that Gojyo was holding that against him, even if he was looking at all of them in alarm, as if wondering exactly how a bunch of scruffy spacers ended up in his nice, freshly-painted office. Gojyo sprawled down in a chair as Hakkai sat neatly and Sanzo sat down like he was going to war. Shit, how was it even possible to sit down in such an aggressive way? Goku curled one leg under himself as he sat, and wound an arm around the back of his chair, like he was holding on to a damn tree branch. Gojyo made a resolution to say that to him later.

Mr Isimwa's secretary poured them all a cup of the terrible local coffee and took her really quite fine ass and pretty face back out the door. Gojyo wondered what her policy was on going for a beer with smart-ass space travellers.

"This is the entire crew?" Mr Isimwa asked, looking like he'd expected more. He took a sip of his coffee. "For all the _Hakuryuu_?"

"Yeah," Sanzo said. "Me, Cho there's the navigator –"

" – and anything to do with accounts," Hakkai added. "And research."

" – Sha's the engineer –"

"It's my skill that keeps the ship going," Gojyo grinned smugly. The _Hakuryuu_ would never get out of low orbit without him. He considered himself well overdue a raise. As he never tired of telling Sanzo.

"I see. And the boy?" Mr Isimwa looked somewhat sceptically at Goku, who had taken a couple of the little cakes the secretary had provided with the coffee, and was trying to swallow them to answer in a comprehensible way.

"Goku does whatever we need him to," Sanzo said, making a _Cool it_ gesture at Goku. "I was given your name at the _Silver Moon._ I was told that you need some items transported to the next system?"

"Yes," Mr Isimwa said. "I'd use the postal service, but a direct courier can be so much more convenient, you understand?"

"Yeah," Sanzo said dryly. "We can be very convenient. Leave the paperwork to us. We're very competent at filling out complex forms in a way that officials can understand."

"What do _you_ do on the ship?"

"Whatever's necessary," Sanzo said. "Like Goku. I handle employment."

"He stays out of my way, I can tell you that," Gojyo said. "He has a degree in _theology_. What sort of bullshit degree is that? You can't use that in the real world. Though he'll throw in prayers for free."

Mr Isimwa looked them over, one by one. He rubbed his face, as if wiping away something unpleasant.

"And you're sure your crew is reliable?"

Sanzo snorted in amusement.

"Yeah. They know their jobs, don't worry." He shoved a data pad over the desk. "Cho's worked out the numbers, he believes in transparency: I want ten thousand. It might be pricier than some other couriers, but we are very - convenient."

Mr Isimwa glanced at it and nodded decisively. "Very well. As long as you have confidence in these . . . people." 

Sanzo looked at him, then sat back and crossed his arms.

"Why wouldn't I? We've worked together for a long time."

Mr Isimwa gestured in a slightly embarrassed manner at Gojyo, Hakkai and Goku. "I'm sure you're perfectly decent men in your own ways, but well, you understand my reservations."

"Please, don't say another word," Hakkai said in an overly polite voice. "Really, it's – " He smiled in a way that looked quite pleasant to people who didn't know him. " – fine."

Gojyo shifted in his seat, his antennae twitching as Goku looked first confused, and then more and more embarrassed, his face going bright red. The kid sat up straight, both feet flat on the ground, like a boy who'd been told off by a strict teacher.

"Nah," Gojyo said, leaning forwards and tapping his long, overly articulated fingers on the desktop. "I wanna hear his reservations. C'mon, man, what _exactly_ is wrong with us? Do you doubt we can operate a ship? Or want to go over Hakkai's numbers? Or is it something more personal?"

"No, no," Mr Isimwa said. "As long as you're being vouched for. I have no objections to you not being humans in the same way as your captain."

"Oh, our _captain_ ," Gojyo said. "Y'hear that, Hakkai? We've got a _captain_. His qualifications are being able to write essays in comparative religion and his gene-set."

"Gojyo, stop," Goku said, his face still flaming red. "Hakkai, make him stop."

Sanzo stood up and picked up the data pad.

"Actually, I'm not human in the same way as _them_ ," he said. "Find another courier." 

The others rose quickly, and followed him towards the corridor.

"But –" Mr Isimwa said, surprised, to their backs as the door shut behind them. Gojyo blew a kiss to the secretary as they passed her.

"We needed that payment," Hakkai said, out in the street again. "There are so many bills to pay, Sanzo."

"Huh. We'll find something."

"Sanzo always finds us something," Goku said loyally. "You'll find something, Sanzo!"

"Oh, Captain, my Captain!" Gojyo sniggered. "Find us something with plenty of cash and cuties!" He snaked an arm around Hakkai's shoulder and buried his nose in his hair in as obnoxious a PDA as he could before Hakkai shrugged him off, amused. "Maybe just cash."

"I've got enough money to buy everyone an early lunch," Sanzo said. "Don't get used to that. Goku, you pick the place."

Goku, looking completely cheerful again, started looking at restaurants as they walked along.

"Really, we're thick-skinned enough to survive an insult or two for the sake of a payment," Hakkai said mildly.

"And Goku'll toughen up with age," Gojyo said. "You should have just let everyone clear the air in there, get all the cards on the table."

"There are plenty of idiots in the galaxy," Sanzo said, lifting a hand to acknowledge Goku's enthusiastic wave from the steps of a restaurant further down the street. "Do I have to voluntarily work for one?"

Gojyo grinned. For an asshole with one hundred percent human genome, Sanzo could sometimes almost seem like a real person.


	6. Family Only

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rin is canonically the family name of Sanzo's father.

The trouble started when they were on the road back to the spaceport. Gojyo decided later that their off-world clothes and Sanzo's stupid big-ass gun and of course his own devilishly attractive good looks had made them the ideal target for local idiots wanting to get some exotic goodies.

"Your weapon, man," the first guy said, stepping out of shadows as they turned down the badly lit road. He was big, and probably thought he looked tough enough and scary enough to get his way easily. He pointed one of the local handguns at them, waving it back and forth like a moron. "Hand it over."

Sanzo stopped and looked him over in the _What garbage-eater crapped_ you _out?_ way that he tended to reserve for people he didn't know, people he did know and the entire fucking universe.

"No."

"I said –"

He had his finger on the goddam trigger and he was nervous. Bad combination. There were another two coming out of the shadows, looked like another one had a gun. Maybe they thought that was enough. Maybe they were ignoring Goku. Maybe they were ignoring gentle-faced, calm Hakkai. Either way, bad mistake.

Goku exploded up and smashed feet first into the first one's face as Sanzo went down flat. The other two gaped, clearly not expecting to see anyone jump that far or that high. The fucker's gun went off, and something far up the road away from them all shattered, an alarm starting up. Goku dropped him, his arm twisted right round and dislocated as the other two stupidly ran in, the second one with a gun shooting wildly and the other with a fucking _cleaver_. Gojyo rolled and came up beside the moron with the gun and punched him in the side of the head. The fucker didn't drop it. He forced the barrel up towards Gojyo's face and there was a huge sound, almost right by his ear. As he swayed in shock he saw Hakkai finally take the goddam cleaver off the third guy and calmly take the bastard's hand off at the wrist with it. The guy with the gun collapsed, and Gojyo turned to see Sanzo, staggering, face drawn and blood on his clothes, his gun trained unshakingly on where the other guy had been. Before Gojyo could say anything, Sanzo's eyes rolled up and he went down in the mud.

"Sanzo!" Goku yelled. He bounded back from where he'd been kicking some manners into the first of the assailants and knelt, lifting Sanzo into his embrace. "Sanzo?"

"Gojyo," Hakkai said.

Gojyo turned around. Hakkai was standing there, still holding the cleaver. The other bastard had fled, leaving his hand behind. Hakkai was standing weird, his free hand clamped tight against his stomach, a stain spreading quickly across his clothing.

"Hakkai –" Gojyo started.

"Call an ambu-" Hakkai went down.

" _Shit!_ " Gojyo pulled out a communicator and by sheer instinct contacted the spaceport.

 _Calm down, calm down_ , the voice on the other end said, as he gabbled about knife and gunshot wounds, and Goku sobbed in the background. _Local services are on the way_.

"I want _real_ help!" Gojyo yelled, but the sirens were approaching and within another minute there were local paramedics leading him and Goku away so they could work on Sanzo and Hakkai without interference.

Gojyo steeled himself for the inevitable suspicions from the police, but the local detectives examined the body of the man Sanzo had shot and cuffed the uninjured wrist of the one Goku had fought to the rail of the trolley he was loaded onto, while making what were clearly derogatory comments in their own language. Known criminals, Gojyo thought. Thank God. He gabbled out an incoherent statement and ran to climb into the back of Hakkai's ambulance.

* * *

The hospital was way better than he'd been expecting. He held on to Goku as Sanzo and Hakkai were whisked away and felt as helpless as the kid, who gave up the fight to stay halfway calm and started sobbing again.

"Hey, come on," he said. "We'll get a sandwich or something."

"You're hurt too," Goku said. "Why didn't they _look_ at you?"

Surprised, Gojyo put a hand to where he indicated, and found a deep groove cut in his upper arm, his fingers coming away coated in blood. Shit. That second guy's wild shooting had nearly done for him. Now that he was calm enough to think straight, it began to hurt, throbbing like fire.

He was distracted from it by an administrator who came up, data pad in her hand.

"You came in with the mugging victims? I'm going to need to go over some details – first, the names –"

"Cho Hakkai," Gojyo started. "He's mixed gene set, the medical details should be on his ID -"

"And Sanzo," Goku gulped. "He's full human, I mean, one hundred percent human gene set."

She frowned, looking at her papers. "A member of the clergy? That wasn't indicated –"

"It's just a nickname," Gojyo said. "His name's Rin Kouryuu. We're all from the _Hakuryuu_ \- Hakkai keeps the insurance up to date, so. . ." His voice petered out, as he tried to stop thinking of Hakkai collapsing.

She made some notes, peered at both of them and nodded as if about to take her leave.

"Wait!" Goku said. "Gojyo's hurt! Do we go to Emergency, or –"

She at least had the grace to look a bit embarrassed, Gojyo thought. She made a show of checking her notes again, as if perhaps the information would change. He wished it fucking would. Things would be a lot easier.

"I'm afraid that based on the information the paramedics discovered when they checked your ID, Mr, um-"

"Sha," Gojyo said. She at least had no objections to calling him _mister_. He was going to be _politely_ discriminated against.

She looked at him, as if he was sure to agree. "This hospital was set up with funding from the Republic Development Council. We have to follow their guidelines. I'm afraid that your family situation indicates that you are not entitled to -"

"Yeah," Gojyo said. "I've heard it before. Can I at least buy some gauze or something from a pharmacy?"

"Gojyo?" Goku said, wiping his nose. "What –"

"It's OK."

"Mr Sha, I'm sorry. There's – look, there's a free clinic in town. For people who don't meet the guidelines." She tapped on her data pad and held it out to him. He grudgingly held out his communicator and nodded as the information transferred.

"Thanks."

"Can we see Sanzo and Hakkai now?" Goku asked. "I mean, Mr Rin and Mr Cho?"

"They're both in surgery," she said, frowning. "Only family will be allowed visit. You are?"

"Sanzo's my guardian!"

_Shit._

"Your guardian. How old _are_ you?"

"Sixteen."

She entered some more information on the pad, and glared at Gojyo, as if she were sorry she'd told him anything of use. "You think you're walking out of here with this child?"

"Cho Hakkai is my partner," he said, focusing on the important issue. Hakkai was the smartest guy he knew. He'd sort out this bullshit about Goku in three minutes flat. "Can I see him later?"

"Mr Cho has no legally registered partner," she said icily. "Young man, if you could come with me?"

"I'm gonna stay with Gojyo," Goku said slowly.

"I'm sorry, Mr Sha has no legal standing to care for a minor child." She tapped on her pad again. "Mr Sha, I trust you aren't going to make me call security?"

"No, ma'am," he said.

" _Gojyo?_ "

"Keep cool, kid," Gojyo hissed, bending his not inconsiderable height down to whisper in Goku's ear. Not as far as he used to, he thought wildly. "Just keep calm, do what this lady says, and eat them out of house and home. Sanzo ain't goin' anywhere. I'll get my arm fixed up, and then Sanzo will be up and his old cheery self. We'll be on our way, OK?"

"OK," Goku said slowly. "Just tonight?"

"Maybe tomorrow, depending on how lazy that egghead is."

" . . . OK. But we're going then?"

"Yeah. _Yeah_. I'll let you know when they fix my arm, all right?"

He stepped back from Goku and she nodded at him grudgingly, as if reluctant to admit he had any sense.

"I'll go to that clinic you so kindly told me about," he said politely. "Be good, Goku. Sanzo would want that." Then he turned on his heel and walked out before he fucking killed someone.

* * *

The clinic was small, and crowded, and not nearly as well funded as even one of the hospital clinics, he guessed. Things being as they were, he gave his name and details and waited. And saw a triage nurse. And went back to waiting. And waited some more, and dozed, and in the early hours of the morning he was finally discharged, the wound clean and stapled shut, and a bottle of nice little painkillers in his pocket. He'd had to endure a lecture about taking them in a sensible way and not selling them on, but he didn't care. They'd scanned his ID and hadn't sneered, hadn't made rude remarks, had just cared for him. He gave as much of a donation as he could afford and went back to the shiny new hospital, only to be told that Hakkai wasn't awake and he couldn't see him.

Fine. He sat in the lobby and played games on his communicator for hours. Goku's communicator wasn't taking calls, which wasn't a good sign. Sanzo would have an aneurysm when he regained consciousness. Good job he was in a well-stocked hospital. Hakkai's just kept giving him his very own private message. _Gojyo, I'm_ working _. I'll call you back_. He kept trying, just so he could hear Hakkai's voice. 

"You can't stay here. You'll have to move."

He looked up to see a security guard. Big guy. Probably fold like a bad hand if he was punched in the nuts. Gojyo gave him his meekest smile, the one copied from Hakkai before something bad went down.

"I'm waiting to see my partner. He's not awake yet."

The man looked at him, ready to call him a liar.

"Cho Hakkai," Gojyo said. "He was brought in last night; a knife wound to the gut."

The guard pointed one large finger at him in a _Stay_ gesture, and went over to the desk. Gojyo listened for all he was worth. That was the thing about these out of the way worlds, he'd found. They sort of took in that a guy might have some exciting DNA but they never really thought about it unless you started spinning webs or laying eggs or something. _Did we get a "Cho" in last night?_ the guard said. _Do me a favour, Mintin, look it up._ Another voice. _There were a couple of spacers attacked – Rin: gunshot, Cho: knife wound. Are we still on for the weekend?_ Gojyo peered over at her. Nice. Very nice. Hell, he'd be on for the weekend. He went back to looking totally harmless as the guard came back.

"I just saw the patient records," he said. "No next-of-kin listed."

 _Fuck me_ , Gojyo thought. _So much for patient confidentiality._

"We can't register it," he said. "There's legal issues."

After another heartbeat the man just said, 

"Don't cause any problems. Just keep quiet."

Over the next couple of hours Gojyo felt a bit like an exotic zoo exhibit, as various members of staff peered at him and whispered. He pretended he didn't see or hear any of them. He currently owed himself a couple of million in his virtual poker game and thought he might have to go double or nothing.

Finally, out of all the background buzz about illegal births and lawless spacers and gunfights in the streets, a nurse actually came up to him and stood almost close enough to hold a regular conversation.

"Is, is your name Gojyo, by any chance?" the man said.

"Sha Gojyo, yes," Gojyo said. "Can you tell me anything about my partner?" He waited to be told he was just some stranger in the street to Hakkai. The nurse looked worried.

"He was asking for you, when he was brought in."

Gojyo nearly levitated off the chair.

"Can I see him? How is he? When's he gettin' out of here?"

"I can't tell you," the nurse said, looking alarmed. "I'm sorry, I really can't! We have to follow the guidelines and they say family visitors only, and Mr Cho has no listed family."

Gojyo sank back down in the chair. "Those guidelines have ruined people's lives," he said conversationally. "You wait and see how many people on this planet will end up outside those guidelines."

"He's under sedation," the nurse whispered. "When he's awake he can ask for whoever he wants. Maybe tomorrow."

"Thanks, man," Gojyo said, relief making him feel weak. "Thank you. He really was asking for me?"

"Yeah. A lot. Can I ask you something personal?"

Gojyo looked at him dubiously. He didn't really feel up to answering a _So, about your law-breaking parents?_ or a _What do two guys do?_ sort of question. 

"I guess."

"Can you _really_ run up walls and onto ceilings?"

Gojyo belatedly closed his mouth, then swept his antennae in with his hair.

"No," he said. "I am not actually an insect."

The nurse nodded and went off, like he'd asked some sort of reasonable question, and Gojyo made himself comfortable for the evening, hugging the thought of Hakkai asking for him close.

* * *

At seven the next morning a nurse's assistant shook his shoulder and he came awake from a confused dream of looking for Hakkai but finding only piles of discarded chocolate wrappers.

"Excuse me," she whispered. "Gojyo? Mr Cho is asking for you –"

Gojyo leapt up, seizing her arm.

"Yeah! I mean, thank you! Where?"

She took up in the elevator to a ward as clean as some sort of high-class hotel, with private rooms, and opened a door. Hakkai was lying in the bed, looking somehow small against the white sheets, and very ill.

"You've practically filled the memory of this cheap piece of nonsense by continually calling," he said in a weak voice, holding up his communicator. "Honestly, Gojyo."

Given that the choice was kissing the bastard or bursting into tears, Gojyo took a few long-legged steps across the room and laid one on him. When a shaky hand landed on the back of his head tears came into his eyes anyway. 

"Heard you were looking for me," he said roughly, getting the tears under control.

"Well, yes," Hakkai said. "You weren't _here_. They said I had to have surgery. I just wanted you to be there. And then – I'm not sure. I woke up and said I wanted to see you. And here you are!" He clung on. "Don't leave me alone again," he whispered. "Don't, Gojyo."

"No way," Gojyo said. "Lemme grab a chair. Hakkai, are you awake? I need you to be awake."

Hakkai turned his head to look at him. He needed some proper food, Gojyo thought. Not the rubbish you got in hospitals.

"They took Goku, 'cos he's a kid. And Sanzo's still too ill to act as his guardian. They said he couldn't stay with me. I knew you'd know what to do."

"I wouldn't have let them take him in the first place," Hakkai muttered. He waved a hand at his bag on the floor. "My data pad's in there. I'll need it. Really, can't a man die in peace? I'd better get myself declared Sanzo's next-of-kin while I'm at it, so we can keep up to date on his recovery."

Gojyo watched him begin to type, his eyes becoming more sharply focused and colour starting to come back into his face. It was just what he needed: a legal battle to keep him distracted. He slipped from the chair to the edge of the bed, putting an arm around Hakkai as he worked.

"Pity you can't do the same with me. It would have made the last while a lot less infuriating."

Hakkai turned to him and smiled. 

"I'll make you my next-of-kin and licensed partner under any local planetary law you like. On every planet we visit, if you like."

"Wouldn't make any difference."

"It might to me," Hakkai said, off-hand, and kissed him. "Now sit in your chair. I'm working."

Gojyo joyfully did as he was told, and watched Hakkai start to bring the crew back together.


	7. Visitation

Goku shot towards him and wrapped his arms and legs around Gojyo, so tight that it was obvious he wasn't going to be dislodged easily. It improved the anonymous official room about a thousand per cent.

"Hey, kid," Gojyo said. "Behaving yourself?"

"Yeah," Goku said. "Can we go now? How's Sanzo?"

"He's OK. Awake and grumpy, from what I hear. They talk to Hakkai about him, not to me. And I'll get you tomorrow, I think. Hakkai's working on it. He's pulling some legal strings that mean I can look after you."

"I can look after myself."

"Yeah," Gojyo said. "I can tell from the baby-monkey grip you've got on me."

Goku released him and stood up straight, scowling. Better. Gojyo squeezed his shoulder and smiled at the children's services people.

"Thanks for allowing the visit. You can see that Goku knows me and wants to be with me, right?"

"Mr Sha, if this case was under our own regulations," one woman started. The other elbowed her sharply.

"Only people with legal licences for children can be their regulated guardians," the second woman said. She was older, and clearly in control. "As you are aware, Mr Sha, not every person has a legal licence in such matters."

_Screw_ , Gojyo thought, _you_. He kept the cheerful, polite smile on his face. _Be the pig. The pig always smiles nicely_. "Ms Keipu, as the paperwork shows, my _registered partner_ Cho Hakkai has guardianship of Goku if Rin Kouryuu is indisposed. And as his _registered partner_ , I am willing to take care of Goku until Hakkai is discharged."

"I'm afraid that your partnership is registered only under local laws," the first, more sympathetic woman said. Ms Vina had obviously not yet learned how to speak to people with limited legal existence; she sounded positively sorry that she couldn't be of more help.

"And is little more than twenty-five hours old. It's clearly fictional," Ms Keipu sneered, smirking at her colleague.

"You guys got married! It's about time!" Goku said in astonishment.

"See? Not fictional," Gojyo said.

"We don't take minors' statements in this sort of instance as bearing much weight," Ms Keipu said to Ms Vina. "The children will say anything to get back to a familiar situation."

No wonder Ms Vina was sympathetic. She really was still being trained to see how people slotted into the correct categories. Gojyo concentrated his smile on her. 

"Ma'am, things are being sorted out; I'm not asking to take Goku with me right now – cool it, Goku – but I do want it noted that he should come with me the moment the final paperwork goes through."

"Just because people like you can scrape some sort of an education –"

"Is that people like my gene sets, people who get born to selfish-ass parents, or perfectly normal, perfectly regular citizens of the republic like Cho Hakkai?" Gojyo said. "I get your planet is freaked out about people like us, but you're the one who've asked for money from the republic's development funds and you're real keen on applying its rules as apply to _me_. So you can check Cho Hakkai's rights and let Goku come with me, or Hakkai'll discharge himself from hospital and _take_ custody of Goku. And sue your asses to perdition when he gets sicker." He sat back. He and Ms Keipiu glared at each other. 

"We can look into it," Ms Vina said quickly.

"I really want to be with Gojyo," Goku said, sounding so sincere that Gojyo immediately felt suspicious, which was nonsense, 'cos the kid wasn't some hard-ass, hard-done-by guy like him. "Everyone's been nice to me, but I want to be with my friends. Can I visit San- er, Kouryuu?"

"He needs rest, sweetie," Ms Vina said. "When he's stronger."

"We'll review your request," Ms Keipu said tightly to Gojyo, which he decided to take as a win for the moment.

"Thank you," he said, and produced a bag of sweet little cakes he'd bought on the way. "Hey, Goku, these are for you."

"Oh, cool!" 

Gojyo pulled him over to a table and sat, so it would look like he was a responsible, civilized sort of guy who would stop Goku from getting crumbs on the carpet. It was good to see the kid eating like he had hollow legs. It felt normal.

"Hakkai'll fix all of this up," he murmured. "I promise. He'll be out in a couple of days, so even if they don't let me have you, he'll be down on them like an avenging angel."

"Is he OK?" Goku said, mouth full.

"Sure. He might be a kinda slow, shaky avenging angel for a bit who actually makes an occasional typo, but don't you worry."

"And you two got married! Without me and Sanzo there!"

"Shit, we weren't really there ourselves, Hakkai did it all over the network. We just had to identify ourselves on the form. It doesn’t mean much anyway, it's just local law, like the lady over there said." He ruffled Goku's hair, just to annoy him. "What have you been up to, anyway?"

"I've been in classes," Goku said in deep disgust. "I've had to study local history and stuff. What use is that?"

"What use is a theology degree?" Gojyo said. "Didn't stop Sanzo. You behave yourself for another day, OK?"

"OK," Goku sighed. "They're OK, I guess. People are nice enough. But I want to get back to the ship."

"We'll get back. Look, here's a picture Sanzo sent Hakkai that he forwarded –"

Goku laughed more at the selfie of Sanzo giving the world the finger from his hospital bed than Gojyo felt it warranted, but it was good to see him cheered up. He put the picture onto Goku's communicator, along with a much more encouraging one of Sanzo sitting up and looking marginally less grumpy than usual and a couple of Hakkai as well. 

The hour was over before either of them wanted, and he had to prize Goku's arms from around him again before he could go. He knew how the kid felt. He wanted to hold on as well; at least he could go back to Hakkai. He turned to wave again to Goku and got a thumbs up in reply.

"See you soon!" Goku called, his voice very nearly steady.

Yeah. Gojyo thought. Yeah.


	8. Back Together

"Are they really letting you out?" Gojyo said as Hakkai carefully pulled on the thin, clean top, moving far more slowly than usual. The bandage across his stomach and side looked worryingly large. "Maybe you should stay in another few days."

"They wouldn't discharge me if I wasn't ready," Hakkai said. "I have perfectly good insurance. I'll just need to take things easy for a while." He looked down, frowning, his socks in his hand, then sat on the edge of the bed. "I don't like to be a bother, but do you think you could help with these and my shoes? I don't think I can bend over."

There was a stupid joke to be made there, but Gojyo just did as he was asked, glad he could do anything to make Hakkai feel better. Then he got Hakkai sitting in the chair, to wait for the doctors to give him the official heave-ho.

"We'll get back to the ship and you can sleep all day," he said.

"I've set up an appointment with Children's Services first," Hakkai said. "We'll get Goku and _then_ go to the ship."

"It's too much for you! The kid can manage another day –"

"Gojyo," Hakkai said firmly, "I am not leaving Goku in institutional care for one minute longer than necessary. Not when he could be with us."

"Sure, no problem, man," Gojyo said, folding Hakkai's jacket and putting it in his bag. "I just thought you might like the novelty of us having the ship to ourselves." He winked.

Hakkai gave a little breath of laughter, a hand braced on his side.

"I wouldn't be able to go to the ship and then go back to get Goku, I'm afraid. I seem to still need a lot of rest. I think I'll be using the bed mostly for sleep for a while."

"Baby, I'm happy to do the work," Gojyo said. "We'll get the kid and then I'll make sure you get to sleep."

"You're so generous," Hakkai said, "I do mean it when I say I get terribly tired, though, and I'm rather worried that I wouldn't be able to reciprocate, which would be extremely unfair, so –"

"Are you _seriously_ talking yourself out of getting a blowjob?" Gojyo said, amused.

"Ah. Well. No - I suppose not."

"Thought I might have to have you checked for a head injury there."

Hakkai laughed, sounding a bit more like himself, and winced. Gojyo decided to be as serious as he could be for at least twenty four hours.

Finally the doctors came with their final instructions and prescriptions, and Gojyo was allowed to pick up Hakkai's bag and walk him out to the front to hire transport to go to the Children's Services offices to collect Goku.

When they arrived he felt his luck was holding, as the pleasant official, Ms Vina, who had seemed to be new on the job was the one who came to greet them.

"Mr Sha, and Mr Cho, is it? I hope you're feeling better?"

"Much, thank you," Hakkai said. He was doing a great job of staying upright, but Gojyo didn't want to push things so he gently guided him to a chair the moment one was offered.

"Goku's just having some lunch," she said. "It'll give us a chance to finish up the paperwork."

"Of course," Hakkai said, and started signing things, and tapping his ID on other things and generally acting like the fine, upstanding, perfectly legal member of society he was. If you didn't count the fact that he'd changed and back-dated all the _Hakuryuu_ 's records from his hospital bed to show he had guardianship over Goku if Sanzo was temporarily unable to exercise _his_.

"I understand that you're actually not entirely well, Mr Cho," she said quietly, "and that any day to day supervision will at the moment probably not be carried out by you." She looked over at Gojyo, and seemed embarrassed. "I really am sorry that your reviewed request to take him was turned down, Mr Sha. I know it's you who'll be looking after him until Mr Cho and Mr Rin both recover."

Gojyo waved a hand casually. He supposed she'd lose the sympathetic edge in a year or two.

"It's fine. The rules are the rules." 

"Thank you for at least feeling you would have liked Mr Sha to have taken temporary custody," Hakkai said, like he was feeling up to sharpening knives.

"We have been taking good care of Goku," she said meekly.

"I grew up in institutional care, Ms Vina," Hakkai said. "I'm sure they took very good care of me. I won't have Goku here a moment longer than necessary."

She nodded and collected her notes. "If you could wait a moment?"

She went out, and Gojyo wondered if Hakkai wanted him to say something. Maybe not, given the satisfied look on his face. He never really knew what to say when Hakkai said something about his life before they'd met. He was saved from further thought by the door opening again and Goku rushing in. 

"Gojyo! _Hakkai!_ "

Gojyo barely caught him before he threw himself on Hakkai.

"Careful, kid. He's just out of hospital."

"Goku –" Hakkai said, holding out an arm to guide him in against the uninjured side. He hugged him close, though Gojyo could see he was hiding pain. "I hope you haven't been causing trouble?"

"I never cause trouble," Goku said, and sniffled into his hair. "Can you even stand up?"

"Of course I can. I'm just sitting right now. Ms Vina, if that's everything?"

"Yes. I hope that you and Mr Rin recover quickly. Thank you for coming today. Goodbye, Goku."

"Bye, Ms Vina," Goku said.

Hakkai was leaning heavily on Gojyo by the time that a hired car drew up to the front door, and was answering Goku's queries about everything in little more than monosyllables. Gojyo felt he was about to snap and yell at the kid, but Hakkai had always known his moods and a firm squeeze on his arm kept him quiet until they had been delivered back to the ship.

"Hakkai needs to _rest_ ," he said firmly. "Go and put your stuff away."

"Maybe you could make me a cup of tea?" Hakkai said, as Goku looked sulky. Once he had something to do the kid went off happily enough.

"You're not in the mood for anything fun, are you?" Gojyo said, helping Hakkai into their quarters. He was walking like an old man, the poor bastard.

"I'm very sorry," Hakkai said. "I don't think I'd appreciate it."

"You'll be better soon."

"I hope so. I thought about you a lot in hospital, Gojyo. Not _once_ would my body co-operate. It was infuriating."

Gojyo kissed him, glad to hear he'd been missed. He carefully lowered Hakkai onto the bunk and pulled his boots off. He pushed him gently back against the pillows as Goku knocked and came in with the tea.

"Thank you, Goku. I'm sure I'll be able to drink it soon."

"Come on," Gojyo said. "Let him rest." He steered Goku back into the main crew area and sat him down. "Tell me all about your exciting time being a kid."

"School, being told to wash behind my ears, more school, kicking a ball around, more school," Goku shrugged. "Did you know that this planet had _kings?_ The last royal family peacefully turned all its powers and assets over to the people a century ago," he rattled off, then grinned. "That was after loads of revolutions in other countries that didn't end so good for kings and queens."

"There's a good, skeptical little monkey," Gojyo said, digging out some proper, extremely processed food from the cupboards. "Hakkai will be glad to hear you listen to his ranting about history."

"He _is_ ok, isn't he?"

"He will be," Gojyo said, hoping it was true. Hakkai never complained about his own health near enough. "Hey," he said, to distract them both, "he told me that he had a bunch of student doctors asking him rude questions. You know, _So, Mr Cho, what_ does _it feel like to be the descendant of some abomination created in a lab somewhere? Can you find truffles?_ And so on."

"No way!" Goku said wide-eyed.

"Maybe not the truffle line. But yeah, he was real interesting to them. He said it was quite a strain to remain polite."

"Aww," Goku said. "I missed Hakkai saying _Fuck off!_ " He looked down at the table. "I got a couple of weird things said to me. That stopped the first time we had to do any sport stuff, and people started wanting me on their team." He looked up hopefully. "It was probably just 'cos I was a new kid."

"Yeah," Gojyo said. "Probably." He sat down with a bowl of cheap, delicious noodles and pointed to where another bowl stood steaming. "Just in case you're still hungry."

"Hey, thanks!"

"When we go to visit Sanzo later, don't climb all over him, OK? He's been in surgery, remember, like Hakkai. And they're being careful with him, he already fucks his lungs up with smoking. The added lead didn't do his lung any good."

"OK," Goku said, deep in the noodles.

Gojyo left him to it and went to take a nap, finding Hakkai deeply asleep. He curled himself at the edge of the bunk and fell asleep almost at once, the familiar feel of Hakkai's warmth beside him.

* * *

Hakkai insisted that he was well enough to visit Sanzo that evening, so Gojyo got all three of them into a large hired car, Hakkai sprawling out on the seat in a most uncharacteristic manner.

"You be back for us in ninety minutes," Gojyo told the driver when they arrived.

"That's not long enough –" Goku started.

"It will probably be too long," Hakkai said. "He'll be tired, believe me."

They went slowly to the elevator and then down a corridor to Sanzo's room. He was looking better than the previous time that Gojyo had seen him, which meant that he was well enough to be in a bad mood. At least he'd combed his hair this time, although it was well overdue a wash.

"The circus has arrived to annoy me," Sanzo grumbled, glaring at them from his bed. "Proof that there are no gods."

"Sanzo!" Goku yelled, forgetting all Gojyo's warnings and trying to fling himself on the bed. Gojyo held him back.

"I heard you were being taught to read and write," Sanzo sniffed.

"What? I can read and write! You taught me yourself – are you making fun of me?"

"Hello, Goku," Sanzo said, less acerbically, and – well, well – there was almost a smile on his face. He beckoned him around to his uninjured side and didn't do more than roll his eyes as Goku sat as close as possible. "They got tired of having you around, then, Hakkai?"

"So it would seem. It's really quite wonderful to be out. When will you be discharged, any word?"

"You can be more of a pissy bitch if you really try," Gojyo said cheerfully. "They'll kick you out in a hot minute."

"The moment I have the energy for it, I'll discharge myself," Sanzo said. "This isn't cheap, right, Hakkai?"

"Stay put," Hakkai said, as Goku said.

"You've gotta get better!"

"Yeah, we don't want you back just yet," Gojyo said. "Hey, thanks for getting that guy. That was good shooting for an academic."

"I wouldn't want my lab specimen damaged," Sanzo said. It was practically a declaration of love.

Gojyo sat on the arm of the chair, a long arm around Hakkai's shoulders, listening to Goku telling Sanzo about everything that had happened to him since they'd been parted. There was actual colour in Sanzo's face and he almost looked interested in the presence of other people. Hakkai leaned against him and smiled up, occasionally interjecting a word here and there when Goku drew breath. No one came to bother them at all, or say that they shouldn't all be together.

It was, Gojyo thought, as close to perfect an evening as he'd had in the recent past.


End file.
